WoW Test realm: Warlock Demonology talent gets “fixed”

With the recent set of test realm fixes focused on World of Warcraft‘s Paladins, the latest subject for fixes appears (once again) to be the warlock class. In this latest segment, Katael over at the boards explains that the “Demonic Tactics” talent under the warlock’s Demonology talent tree has just received a revamp. Instead of allowing increased normal damage for the warlock and the demon pet, the talent now increases their chances of scoring a critical hit.

It sounds fine, until we mention that Demonology Warlocks – the class build that uses this talent – don’t rely on crits, and rely heavily on Stamina (for their damage over time spells) and spell damage (The said DoT spells) to do their hurting. In line with this post, Blizzard‘s Tseric explained this as an attempt in game balancing:

Not sure of the specific dev reasoning for this change, but if I had to guess, I would say it was changed to limit the number of +damage percentages that could be piled up in one tree. You couple this with Master Demon, Demonic Knowledge, Soul Link and chances are, with your Felguard out (as you’re probably going 41 into Demo with this talent, anyways) you’re seeing a fair number of damage buffs. Stacking percentages can usually get out of hand when taking other factors into consideration which may further buff damage by a percentage.

I see what you’re saying and I can certainly inquire as to specific reasoning, but this just looks like swapping a bit of steady damage for a little bursty damage, which makes for a gradual reduction of average dps.

As expected, the fix (or is it a nerf?) caused mixed reactions among the forum members. Some considered it a fair fix to help balance out the warlock’s long list of damage buffs in the Demonology tree. Others, on the other hand, sorely missed the +5% boost that Demonic Tactics gave. What’s your say on this matter, guys?

With the recent set of test realm fixes focused on World of Warcraft‘s Paladins, the latest subject for fixes appears (once again) to be the warlock class. In this latest segment, Katael over at the boards explains that the “Demonic Tactics” talent under the warlock’s Demonology talent tree has just received a revamp. Instead of allowing increased normal damage for the warlock and the demon pet, the talent now increases their chances of scoring a critical hit.

It sounds fine, until we mention that Demonology Warlocks – the class build that uses this talent – don’t rely on crits, and rely heavily on Stamina (for their damage over time spells) and spell damage (The said DoT spells) to do their hurting. In line with this post, Blizzard‘s Tseric explained this as an attempt in game balancing:

Not sure of the specific dev reasoning for this change, but if I had to guess, I would say it was changed to limit the number of +damage percentages that could be piled up in one tree. You couple this with Master Demon, Demonic Knowledge, Soul Link and chances are, with your Felguard out (as you’re probably going 41 into Demo with this talent, anyways) you’re seeing a fair number of damage buffs. Stacking percentages can usually get out of hand when taking other factors into consideration which may further buff damage by a percentage.

I see what you’re saying and I can certainly inquire as to specific reasoning, but this just looks like swapping a bit of steady damage for a little bursty damage, which makes for a gradual reduction of average dps.

As expected, the fix (or is it a nerf?) caused mixed reactions among the forum members. Some considered it a fair fix to help balance out the warlock’s long list of damage buffs in the Demonology tree. Others, on the other hand, sorely missed the +5% boost that Demonic Tactics gave. What’s your say on this matter, guys?